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We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde Cake – Part 4

30 Saturday Mar 2013

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PB & J Joconde

PB & J Joconde – Almond Sponge Cake wrapped around a layer of Chocolate Almond Sponge cake under a thick layer of Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Mousse and topped with Cherry Topping.

- This is the final segment of the PB & Jam Joconde Cake post – Part 4, continued from Part 3.

After the pan was lined with the joconde strip and cake, we made a batch of Peanut Butter Mousse. I’ve made vanilla and chocolate mousses many times so I just adapted a vanilla mousse with the addition of peanut butter and cream cheese.

Peanut Butter Mousse
1 pkg + 1 tsp gelatin softened in 3 Tbsp water.
6 Tbsp boiling water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup peanut butter

Stir the boiling water into the softened gelatin. Stir till dissolved. Set aside.
Beat sugar, whipping cream and vanilla until softly mounding.
Beat the cream cheese with the peanut butter until smooth.
Beat a little whipping cream into the cream cheese peanut butter mixture. Beat in the rest of the whipping cream until almost stiff.
Gradually add the gelatin mixture to the whipped cream mixture. Do NOT overbeat or the mixture will turn grainy.
Spread the Peanut Butter Mousse in the prepared pan.

I made mousse but I didn't measure all the ingredients. It wasn't peanut buttery enough so next time I will add more peanut butter.

When I made the mousse for this, I didn’t measure the peanut butter but it was about 1/3 cup. It wasn’t peanut-buttery enough so I made a second batch with 2/3 cup peanut butter (as in the recipe in this post) and that was much better.

PB & J Joconde-36

I didn’t have any fresh fruit to make a jam topping so I used cherry pie filling. A fresh Crushed Blueberry Sauce would have been divine!

PB & J Joconde-37

The finished cake was placed in the refrigerator for several hours. Six hours would have been better and made the cake slice better.

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The cake is taken out of the springform pan.

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I used a candy mold to make the chocolate shapes from Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate.

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PB & J Joconde-42

There were rave reviews over our first Joconde cake. PB & Jam, dressed up to the max!

I’m looking forward to making a Lemon Almond Sponge with Pineapple Cream Cheese Mousse and Pineapple Mandarin Topping. Also a Raspberry rendition. And perhaps three crisp hazelnut dacquoise layers with coffee cream filling. The joconde was good just plain so we’ll be using the mat to develop some bar cookie recipes as well. All in all, we are very satisified with our first joconde cake.

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde – Part 2

28 Thursday Mar 2013

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— Continued from Part 1 —

Continuing our PB & Jam Joconde, we had a large baking mat, the size of the entire oven rack, filled with chocolate batter that needed chilled. If we were an actual bakery, we would waltz our carefully prepped mat into the walk-in freezer and park it between the charlottes and wedding cake layers. But we’re not a bakery, we’re just a little family kitchen with a family size fridge with shelves that barely hold a fat turkey. So we had to get creative.

We figured that the object of freezing the batter was to make it firm enough to quickly spread a second layer of batter on without disturbing the design underneath. Freezing was out so we went for a good chill.

PB & J Joconde-8

We placed a towel on the counter and covered it with ice cubes. Then we placed two half-sheet pans over the ice. This made a very cold surface on which to place the batter-filled mat.

PB & J Joconde-9

But the oven rack under the mat created too big a gap between our cold source and the baking mat.

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We didn’t want to remove the oven rack lest it disturb the surface of the chocolate batter so we placed a wet towel on top of the cookie sheets to transfer more cold up through the rack.

PB & J Joconde-12

The wet cold towel worked and the mat and batter became cold. It wasn’t frozen but it was cold enough to stabilize the chocolate batter before topping it with the second layer.

PB & J Joconde-13

A second batch of batter was made but without the addition of cocoa. (Note here how large the baking mat is. It is almost the size of our oven rack. The fit in the oven will be tight.)

PB & J Joconde-14

To spread the top layer of almond batter without disturbing the chocolate batter, it was critical to push the batter over the chocolate layer without spreading back and forth, which would have stirred up the chocolate batter. This step was similar to the technique used in crumb-coating a cake.

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PB & J Joconde-16

Finally the mat was filled and ready for the oven.

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The mat still on the oven rack was slid into the oven. The batter was stiff and cold so it didn’t run out of the pan.

PB & J Joconde-18

A very tight fit indeed!

And then came the baking and our THIRD MAJOR Obstacle. If I recall, we figured 10 minutes at 450 should do it. But by the time we hit 7 minutes, smoke started pouring out of the oven. “The mat must be burning!” I yelled. “Maybe it’s melting!” he responded. “I told you the cake might burn.” he insisted. We threw open the oven in a panic and discovered ….

— To be continued in Part 3 —

We finished off the Valentine’s Day cookies…

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

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They were delicious! We kept it simple and made just two recipes: Shortbread Hearts and Cherry Cordial Cookies.

The Cherry Cordial Cookies recipe was from a Chocolatier magazine from years ago. I cut out the recipe and taped it into my recipe notebook. I should have written down the year but it was probably from the 80′s.

The Shortbread Hearts were made by slightly adapting our traditional Scottish Shortbread recipe. The recipe was handed down from relatives in Scotland for ages. The usual form is patted out into two rounds or pressed into a 9″ x 13″ pan and cut into squares. We always do the square thing just for simplicity.

Here is the original Shortbread Recipe, which takes just 4 ingredients.

Scottish Shortbread
1 lb butter (Note: We use 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter and 1/2 cup of salted butter for best flavor)
1 1/4 cup fine sugar (Note: We use granulated sugar and process it in a food processor until it is less grainy. It should be half-way between granulated sugar and powdered sugar in texture when you pinch a little bit between your fingers.)
1 1/4 cup cornstarch (Note: Various Scottish relations argue over whether this should be rice flour or not. We stick with corn starch because we like the melt-in-your mouth texture of the baked shortbread.)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Note: We always use unbleached King Arthur flour for best texture and flavor.)

~ Knead ingredients by hand. (…um… we use a mixer…faster and way less messy!)
~ Press into a 9″x13″ pan.
~ Prick dough all over with a fork.
~ Bake at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes. The edges will be light golden brown but the top will still be pale. We usually break open a tiny bit in the middle of the pan to test for doneness in the middle, since these are very thick squares.
~ Cut while warm into 1″ squares.
~ Store at room temp for a couple days. Refrigerate air tight for several weeks. May be frozen, wrapped air tight, for over a month. (We’ve found shortbread in the freezer six months later and it was perfectly fine. It just has to be wrapped well in plastic wrap and then in foil to avoid picking up any off-flavor from the freezer.)

To make the heart shaped shortbread cookies, we added about 1/4 cup extra flour to the recipe to make the dough a little stiffer. The Valentines Day Conversation Heart Cookie Cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

Rolling out the shortbread. The cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

Rolling out the shortbread. The cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

One side of the cutter featured Valentine's Day sentiments, which were pressed into the shortbread. We also used a fork to press holes around the edges of the cookies.

One side of the cutter featured Valentine’s Day sentiments, which were pressed into the shortbread. We also used a fork to press holes around the edges of the cookies.

Valentine Shortbread Heart cookies

Valentine Shortbread Heart cookies. We baked them about 20 minutes at 325 but don’t remember the exact timing. They’re very hard to ruin.

A little tray of Shortbread Heart Cookies and Cherry Cordial Cookies, ready for giving away.

A little tray of Shortbread Hearts and Cherry Cordial Cookies, ready for giving away.

The last three cookies, posing sweetly beside my vanilla bean coffee. I ended up not eating them though, I gave them away.

The last three cookies, posing sweetly beside my vanilla bean coffee. I ended up not eating them though, I gave them away.

I didn’t take any photos when we made the Cherry Cordial Cookies but here is the recipe as printed in the magazine.

Cherry Cordial Cookies
1 pkg Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (NOTE: The recipe does not specify the size of bag. 1 cup of chips are used in the cookie dough and the “remaining cup chips” are used in the frosting.)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups unsifted flour (We use King Arthur unbleached flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 jar (16 oz) maraschino cherries

~ In double boiler, melt 1 cup chocolate chips over 1-inch simmering water.
~ Cream 1/2 cup butter with sugar.
~ Add egg, vanilla and melted chocolate; beat until smooth.
~ Combine flour with baking powder and salt (NOTE: salt is not listed in the ingredients so we figure this was a printing error. We use 1/4 tsp salt); add to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Chill at least 1 hour.
~ Enclose 1 cherry in 1 tablespoon of dough.
[NOTE: Enclosing that cherry in the dough takes a lot of work! The dough is fairly dry so it has to be squished around the cherry, it can't be rolled and folded around the cherry. We drain the cherries while the dough is chilling, otherwise, the dough becomes a gooey mess when trying to squeeze it around a squishy cherry. We put a tablespoon of dough in the palm and pressed a little hole in the middle of it to start. Then the cherry was placed into the hole and the crumbly mixture was pressed up over the cherry. Then we carefully squished the whole lump in our fists to close it all up good and tight. Finally, we gently rolled around the lump to make a nice round ball.]
~ Place on greased baking sheet. (Note: we used ungreased, parchment paper-lined baking sheets.)
~ Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. (ours took exactly 15 minutes)
~ Cool on wire rack.
FROSTING:
Melt remaining cup chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp maraschino cherry syrup and 1 Tbsp unsalted butter.
(NOTE: We used 1 Tbsp kirsch and 1 Tbsp maraschino cherry syrup)
Frost tops of cookies.
YIELD: 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

It was so tedious forming the Cherry Cordial Cookies that we vowed we would never make them again. But then when we bit into the deep dark chocolate cookie and tasted the exquisite cherry buried within, we decided to make these cookies our new Valentine’s Day tradition.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in crafts, dolls, food, recipe, tutorial

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Happy Valentine's Day! Here is a miniature box of chocolates for you.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Here is a miniature box of chocolates for you. Click photo to see a larger image.

Even though it’s just a couple minutes into February 15th, I still consider it Valentine’s Day since the day is not done. ;)

This is a doll-sized box of real chocolates. They are tiny, less than 1/4″ across!

I made the miniature box for these chocolates from tissue paper, cardboard and decorative paper.
The chocolates were made from chocolate chips and pieces cut from candy bars.
To decorate the tops, I drizzled melted chocolate on with a toothpick.
The papers for the chocolates were made by pressing a tiny circle of tissue paper over the flat end of a pencil.

Pasta Rose Salad

11 Saturday Aug 2012

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Last week I made a Pasta Rose Salad.

Pasta Rose Salad – fresh pasta, homemade tomato sauce with garlic and Greek Basil, Spinach Leaves, Thai Basil leaves, toasted walnuts, Parmigiano Reggiano, and drizzled with Olive Oil.

I made a Pasta Rose a couple months ago but didn’t have any tutorial photos so last week I decided to make the tutorial. This post has 40 photographs to show the detailed process. Sorry for the blurred photos. My son Ethan prepared the pasta dough for me.

We used this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=288125 for the pasta dough and mixed the ingredients in the mixer bowl.

The pasta dough was placed on a floured surface and kneaded.


Kneading the pasta dough



The dough was pressed flat, wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled for about 1 hour.

I have a hand crank pasta machine but prefer the efficiency of the KitchenAid pasta attachment. A floured ball of dough, about the size of a small fist, is placed in the top of the pasta machine, with the plain rollers and thickness setting 1.

The flattened dough that comes out of the machine is folded in half and then run through the rollers on setting 1 again.


Each time the dough is passed through the rollers, the texture becomes finer, stretchier and less lumpy.


Once the dough is fine enough, usually after 5 or 6 passes, the setting is changed to 2 and the dough is passed through without folding it in half.


The settings are changed with each pass of the dough. The dough is kept brushed with flour so it won’t stick to the rollers. When the dough becomes too long or too wide to fit the roller, it is cut into smaller pieces.





The final width of the pasta is 2 1/2″ or 3″ wide with a thickness setting of 7 on the machine, which is quite thin. about 1.5 mm.


The floured strips of pasta were laid on a floured surface as we completed each one. They were then hung from a rack for an hour or two until cooked. I did not want them drying out lest they crack so we covered them with a towel.


One long piece of pasta makes one rose and a bud or two. I forgot to measure the length but it was about 2 or 3 feet long.

One long piece of pasta is dropped into boiling water.


Pasta cooking.


The pasta is cooked about six minutes or so, till el dente.


Steaming pasta in the colander.


One long piece of pasta is used to make the rose. The pasta rose is formed while the pasta is still hot but will be cool by the time the plate is finished. If you want a warm dish, the plate will need warming, with the greens added right before serving.

Begin the rose at the center. Starting at one end of the long pasta ribbon, the pasta is folded and rolled to form the center bud.


With the bud in the left hand, the long ribbon of pasta is wrapped around the bud clockwise. Occasionally the long ribbon of pasta is folded over to form a folded edge of a petal.




Once enough of the rose is established, it is placed on the serving plate and the folding and wrapping of the pasta ribbon continues around the rose.




When the rose is the size desired, any excess pasta is cut off and the rose is positioned as desired.


To make a rose bud, start with a 5″ piece of pasta ribbon and fold the right side forward diagonally.


Make another fold on the opposite side toward the center, forming a pointed triangle.


Slightly scrunch up the base of the piece to form a bud.


Place the bud partially under the edge of the rose.



A second rose bud is formed and placed under the other side of the rose.
We made a tomato sauce by simmering diced tomatoes with garlic, sea salt and chopped Greek Basil.
Spinach leaves are tucked around the rose.

A paint brush is used to brush tomato sauce between the rose petals.


A small spoonful of sauce is placed in the center of the rose.


Extra Virgin Olive Oil is drizzled over the top of the pasta and spinach leaves.


Thai basil is spicier than broad leaf basil and has a delicious anise flavor. I placed one Thai basil leaf on top of several of the spinach leaves for color and flavor.


Toasted walnuts are placed on the plate with the spinach leaves and Parmigiano Reggiano is grated over the top. The final garnish is a small cluster of Thai Basil.


The completed Pasta Rose Salad. Please click photo to see a larger image.


I ended up chilling the first Pasta Rose so I threw together one to eat. Here is my Thrown Together Pasta Rose.

Thrown-together Pasta Rose, served warm. It was ugly and absolutely delicious!

The Thai Basil and toasted walnuts are key to making this dish delicious. It’s also critical to make the pasta thin for forming the rose and making the serving size not too big.
This is the Pasta Rose I made several months ago.

Pasta Rose Salad


I love both versions and look forward to making this for lunch guests. This dish takes a while to make so make it early in the day for dinner guests. Better yet, make it the day before, covering each complete plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate. It keeps well till the next day for a luncheon. Remover from refrigerator about an hour before serving.

Rum Raisin Scone – for ONE

27 Friday Apr 2012

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It all started with the Sloppy Joes last night. He needed molasses to make a homemade sauce but we were out.
"Use a little Rum," I suggested. He considered but changed his mind. I googled rum sloppy joes but there wasn't a single recipe. So I poured a shot anyway.

There was some left so I plopped in raisins for no reason at all. When I woke this morning, I saw those plump little raisins and thought Rum Raisin Scone. Serving size: One. Not for sharing.
Keep it simple.

Single Serving Rum Raisin Scone - 1/8 cup all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp brown sugar, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, about 1/3 shot half n half or cream, 1/2 shot of rum raisins, little shredded orange rind. - Click photo for larger image -


Dry ingredients mixed together, along with the orange rind. Soft butter squished in with a fork. Raisins spooned in. I didn't use all the raisins.


Raisins and some of the cream stirred in with a fork. I used a little more flour, perhaps a teaspoon or so to make a dryer scone that I could shape by hand.


Dough shaped into one scone and placed in sizzling butter in the skillet.

The glowing red burner light reminded me that something good was happening under the old scratched lid. I forgot to look at the clock because the conversation went something like this...
-You're saying there is just one. As in Only one. No others. That's cruel!-
-No, cruel would be a single oatmeal raisin cookie.-
-That wouldn't be cruel, that would be Malevolent Overlord Boss.-
-Well this is just a Rum Raisin Scone with a touch of orange.-
-It's still cruel...-


And finally it was done - hot, steaming, melt-in-your mouth texture, barely sweet with the dark rum raisins and a touch of orange. It was flipped twice and took about 15 minutes on lowest heat.

I broke it with the intent of sharing anyway. But they declined. So I enjoyed my Rum Raisin Scone for ONE.
Unfortunately, there was one victim of this cruelty... Me. After I ate every buttery crumb, I craved another. But there was none.

Gingerbread Valentine – Gold & Yellow

20 Monday Feb 2012

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I live 500 miles away from my hometown and miss my dear sister, Donna. Boo hoo. I was delighted to find a teacup in her favorite shade of yellow at the local thrift store last week. So of course I had to decorate some Gingerbread cookies in yellow and gold to go with the teacup. The water for tea is in the kettle. All that is missing is my sister. The next time she visits, she will drink from this cup.

To my sister, Donna: a pale yellow teacup and Gingerbread await you!

Ok, I’ll be honest, I almost ate my sister’s gingerbread! But I stopped in time to wrap it up well in plastic wrap and then foil and then freeze it. It will last well that way at least 6 months. In the meantime, I’ll eat one of the pink decorated hearts.

Click for recipe.
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Orange & Date Scones Recipe

21 Saturday Jan 2012

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These are without a doubt my most favorite scones ever! I don’t remember where the recipe came from. I have it hand-written in a 20 year old notebook. If anyone knows the source, I would be glad to give credit.

I managed to convince myself these scones are healthy because there are only two tablespoons of brown sugar in the recipe, plenty of whole wheat and good fruit. This way I justify the 1 cup of butter and 2/3 cup buttermilk completely.

These are best served warm. However they taste just as delicious warmed in the microwave the next day.

Orange Date Scones

Combine in a large bowl:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt

Cut in:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter

In a small bowl, combine:

  • 2/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup chopped dates
  • 1 tsp grated orange rind

Add the buttermilk/date mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a fork just until evenly moistened.  Turn out on a floured surface; dough will be soft. Pat to an 8″ circle. Cut into 8 wedges.

Orange Date Scones - This photo shows a double recipe here with half the dough being cut into 8 wedges.

Heat oven to 450.

Melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy 9 x 13″ baking dish in oven. This takes just a couple minutes so watch the dish.  Remove from oven.

Place wedges in the melted butter and return to oven.  Bake 15 minutes.

While scones are baking, in a pan on medium heat, melt 2 tbsp butter with 3 tbsp orange marmalade.  Brush over hot scones when they are done baking.

Serve immediately. Makes 8

Orange Date Scones

Thanksgiving Salad with Stuffing Croutons and Cranberry Dressing

27 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in food, recipe, Thanksgiving

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Today’s lunch was Thanksgiving Salad. What a refreshing way to have Thanksgiving leftovers! Salad ingredients were cold Thanksgiving dinner leftovers: Turkey, Bell Pepper Rings, Stuffing, Cranberries, Parmesan Crusted Pumpkin Wedge and Green Bean Casserole.

To make Stuffing Croutons, I baked leftover stuffing on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes.
For the dressing, I combined equal amounts of leftover Cranberry Orange Relish and Pomegranate Salad Dressing. Thinly sliced cranberries were used for the garnish.

Thanksgiving Salad dressing ingredients


The Thanksgiving Salad was delicious!